It's that time of the year for teams to make noise in their conference tournaments.

Every year bubble teams across the nation fear the inevitable, a stolen NCAA Tournament birth! Last year we saw the most improbable stolen bid as the NC State Wolfpack won five straight games in Greensboro to win the ACC tournament and nab a bid from a prospective team. Bid stealers are classified as those who have no shot of making the tournament as an at-large bid and must win their conference tournament to get an automatic bid.

This year there are many prospective bid stealers with the first possible team being the San Francisco Dons out of the West Coast Conference. The Dons finished 3rd in the conference behind two tournament locks in Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga. Saint Mary’s finished their conference season an incredible 17-1, however, their only loss was at the hands of… San Francisco. If there is any sleeper team in the WCC that has a chance to take down one of the two powerhouses it’s San Francisco. The Don’s can win games ugly relying on a second-ranked conference defense and a top-third defense in the entire country. Led by Malik Thomas, the leading scorer in the entire conference at 19.1 PPG they have the star power to hit clutch shots late in the game.

Anything short of winning the WCC will end their shot at March Madness, but a run starting on Saturday out in Vegas could cost a team out there a spot at dancing later in March! Beware of the Don’s!